Luna Loud was known by countless high school students by the time she had gone to be a senior. It was only her first month of the final year, and yet she had to look at colleges to find her way to the music industry. She had made up her mind, but in contrast, there was still time to change all that within the next few months. She settled for it in the meantime, gaining a collection of support from her family and girlfriend of two years, the lovely Samantha Sharp, who usually went by Sam most of the time.
Luna and Sam hooked up on a late summer's night, over at a huge party thrown by one of Sam's friends. It was beautiful, something the stuff dreams were fueled from. Luna, being a bisexual girl, had a fear of being shunned by the community, having already known what the status was to both the straight and gay folk of all over the world. And she let it slip when she had slightly too much beer to sip. Sam was there, leading her away from the mamy boys she felt would take advantage of her. And everything then fell into place thereafter. Although Luna's mind stopped recording sometime during sex, she did remember most of it, but as long as Sam had also, she was glad that night survived by them.
Sam was the one who made everything better for Luna. She confided in her, trusted her with everything more than she could with Tabby, who had become distant with the rocker some time after word of Luna and Sam had become a genuine item. To this day. Luna could not tell if Tabby was one of those haters or if she had actual feelings for Luna. But, that was a question that never would get an answer?
Luna, the second Loud daughter to man Vanzilla, was going a steady forty miles per hour down the lonely streets of Royal Woods. They had just been coming back from another party, having left around midnight, which was definitely past their designated curfews. It also didn't help that Luna had taken a full dose of Jack Daniels tonight.
"Are you sure you should be driving?" Sam was giggling, but doing so in a nervous tone. She trusted Luna enough to drive like this, considering it was only one beer bottle. Then again, it might have been enough for the teenager. "I mean, maybe at least go slow."
"I'm fine-" Luna hiccuped roughly. "Shit."
"You did have one, right? Just one?" Sam was told by her girlfriend that it was just the one; Who was Luna to be lying and putting them in absolute danger?
"Ummm..." Luna kept her eyes on the road- And then jerked her hands left that she caused a swerve. She hit her head among the door's window on her side, and Sam landed face first onto Luna's lap. "Oh, you wanna eat me now?"
Sam turned red and quickly returned up. "Th-that was not- Hey, no, I knew it, you're not fit to drive! Pull over, babe."
"I can do this," Luna pleaded. "Plus, there aren't any fuzz, or even any cars around! I can manage." Luna sounded so confident that she added pressure to the gas pedal, going past fifty miles now. And then she ran a stop sign.
"Luna!" Sam yelled alarmingly. "Cut it out!"
"No risk, no reward!" Luna howled, now slurring a bit.
"What reward will that be if you get us into a car crash, Luna?!" Sam began looking out front and back. No other headlights were seen for blocks, so no worrying for witnesses. "I don't want you to get in trouble, is all. Just.. You know, slow down."
Luna decreased her speed, and then faced her lover. To her, Luna whispered in a quieter tone, "I think you're scared-"
The dreadful thing that came next was Vanzilla being turned on its side, right after Luna plowed through another intersection she had to stop. The semi couldn't stop on a dime for them, and didn't come to a complete halt until it was more than half a block away.
By then, Vanzilla's wheels had stopped rolling, and the sudden explosion of sound, which was the metal scraping on the pavement, as well as the sudden shattering of glass, had died down. Luna had her head struck against the steering wheel quite damn hard, but not hard to get knocked out from the horrifying accident. "Suh-Suh-Suh-"
She unbuckled herself, falling over Sam. "H-hey-"
Sam didn't make it through. Her head has cracked open during the tilting, glass fragments penetrating around the side of her head. The blood had gone unnoticed until Luna tried to move Sam, in which she felt a thick, warm liquid trickling from Sam's head. At first she thought the crash messed with the gas tank, until she met her blood-covered fingers up close and personal.
And only then did the poor teenager scream out in pure agony, above into the night skies.
Days Later
The round clock kept ticking away in the kitchen. Only, Luna seemed to notice it for the first time in ever. There was no noise that blocked it out. No sister being herself at the time. Nothing of the sort, despite all of them being there at both the kiddie and grown-up tables. Lily would have been blowing raspberry or giggling, if she wasn't eating her food in perfect peace and quiet.
The truth of the matter was that the entire Loud family was brought to temporary silence due to the death of Sam Sharp, which they had known devastated Luna completely. It was a hard number of days where she was unfocused, and had somewhat shut much of the world away. The mourning girl couldn't even bother to touch her goulash. She wasn't hungry at the moment, but at the same time, she didn't have the energy to get up and leave the kitchen.
Her parents, Leni, Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln felt the aura of Luna's depression strike upon them yet again, and so did most of the members of the kiddie table. There really was nothing more they could do or say to Luna, apart from expressing their condolences for her loss. The special treatment flopped, even. Luna had more than enough time to herself within the house... And outside the walls proved to be no different.
She never answered her calls or text, not even bothering with Lori's or Chunk's, who merely wanted to help from afar. Not even Luan's best jokes could save Luna.
She sighed and stared at the goulash, for the umpteenth time.
"Luna..." Rita had finally spoke after her recent, long talk with Luna. "This isn't healthy."
Lynn Sr. followed his wife's cue, not having the courage to starting this up. "Your mother's right, sweety. You can't let yourself be down like this."
"Luna, please let us in. Talk to us, share what you're feeling, and don't..." Rita trailed off, tapping her fingernails on the table.
"Don't be weird on us, Lunes," fifteen-year-old Lynn said with a full mouth. "Any concerts coming up? Maybe we can catch one together, whaddya say?"
Luna did not break her silence.
"Luna?" Luan squeaked.
All of a sudden, the grieving rocker raised and slammed her fists onto the table. They made the bowls bounce up and clatter back down to the table, with her own having made a mess onto it and her own purple shirt. Her face was a discontent, broken one, which drove the kids back into shells of silence. Rita sighed and looked to her husband, who hadn't a real clue of what to do or say to appeal to Luna.
As for the rocker, she kicked her feet to push herself back, and evacuated rapidly away. Luan looked on, and then eyed down her half-empty bowl. "I'll finish later, guys," she told her parents before scurrying away after her older sister.
Luna rested on the top bunk bed, headphones plugged in, but with no music playing at all. What she thought she wanted was nothing but pure silence, to be alone with her thoughts. She dared not close her eyes, so she maintained them open, locked with the ceiling.
Sam, that beautiful, talented, and kind girl was... Gone. Not the type of gone where she had left elsewhere, or moved on from their relationship. Not the type that she wished would have happened, that she would have chosen over this. Not like that, but gone like...
And then Luna recalled that Sam really was gone. Just like that. Her fault. Her fault for drinking. Her fault for... Not... Listening to-
She withdrew her pillow from underneath and redirected over her head, already breaking into fragile tears, followed by whimpering as she smothered her face. It hurt with such great and powerful intensity. It was nothing like she had felt before. It was stronger than the last true fear her heart had experienced, which happened to be Luna having delivered a letter to Sam's locker; the very same letter that was the foundation of their relationship. It was stronger than that, and on a negative level.
Luan came in silently unannounced, hoping to reach out to her close sister. "Lunes?"
The idea of losing a loved one was an unbearable, unimaginable one Luan had no experience in, so she didn't qualify to use certain lines, but she was just as close to Luna, both emotionally and physically. "Are you okay?"
Luna heard her, but was too busy crying into the pillow to reply.
"Oh... Luna..." There had to be something, anything at all that Luan could possibly do to lift her dear sister's spirits. All factors had been considered and thrown Luna's way, but she rejected it all.
With a sigh of defeat, Luan pondered a solution, moving to her bottom bunk bed as Luna continued crying. "There isn't anything I can say that would bring her back, but you can't... Let yourself... You know..."
Unbeknownst to the two, Lisa was concealed outside the room, hugging against the wall as she eavesdropped. Lisa, being the braniac of the family Loud, was currently studying psychology, trying to understand emotions and where they, in a certain individual, originated from. Luna looked to be a qualifying candidate, one such person who was being struck with painful emotions. Lisa hadn't her tape recorder at the moment, so she opted to use her brain and recall every bit of Luna's words. Well, when Luna would begin talking again, that is.
"You don't have to to through this alone, Lunes," Luan went on. "We're here for you, every minute of every day. So just... Don't lock us out, cause it feels like you aren't letting us in."
Luna ceased her sobbing and removed the pillow off her face. "L-Luan?"
The comedienne stopped just before the doorway. "Yes?"
"W-was it my fault? Did I- I kill my Sam?" Luna felt responsible for the whole tragedy, with what being the person behind the wheel, and had ignored Sam's concerning pleas to drive safely. Luna did it, and therefore... Maybe she did wind up deserving it. It couldn't be like that, could it? Had God carried it out?
"No- Hey, don't say that, Luna," Luan addressed. "It just happened, sis. It's one of those things not in our control, you know?"
"I don't want to go to the funeral," Luna admitted tearfully.
Luna merely looked down, unsure of what to say. "Well, I think you should, Lunes."
Royal Woods Cemetery
And she was alone, right after the other funeral attendants had gone away with brooding expressions stuck to them like stone, if they weren't crying. She met Sam's parents and kid brother, both parents whom were giving Luna quite the stink-eye while the eulogy went down. The coffin, a light brown one of a generic rectangular shape, had been lowered down.
Luna stood there, standing right over the freshly-made plot that contained the coffin. She had come alone, refusing to let the others join her. "Sam..."
Luna didn't know if she'd be coming. There was so much she just had to tell the dead girl below- And yet was not able to handle the strain of being able to. Not without feeling some sort of pain. And right now, as Luna tried to grasp for words, her chest tightened, and her body developed a familiar feeling. It was like butterflies, but for the opposite emotion. Almsot like something burning grotesquely deep inside her. And she didn't want all of this. Nothing, but the dear return of her beautiful Sam.
"I swear..." She kept staring below for what seemed like a hellish eternity. No way she could see the figure watching from behind a nearby tree, waiting for her to leave.
"If I could take it all back-" She broke into a silent crying mode again, eyes blurring out from the tears that penetrated through to fleee down the mountains of her cheeks. Her fault. Literally her fault, and nothing she could say would ever correct this, revert it all back to how it was. She didn't know which one of those two realities hurt more; That Sam was not going to come back, or that it was the fact that Luna was the person at fault behind this.
Why didn't she? Why didn't she listen in the first place?
Luna clenched her hands into fists, both hurt and angry at how things were. Her fault. What could she do now? What did she need to to?
"F-forgive me."
The punk rocker, in her strange black clothes, settled for the day and began strolling off quickly. She decided she wanted to be as far away from this uncomfortable place of death, where it was a field full of reminders. As she did so, she wondered about the others who were buried in the cemetery, and those who were left behind by the dead. An endless amount of them, had to be. However many there were of those who lost loved ones, Luna was one of the new additions to the group. Luna, Sam's family members, and their close, mutual acquaintances.
And that was it. Had to be it. Sam was gone, and there was nothing Luna could do. And it totally killed her, which was all it took to do so.
Luna legged it home, taking her slow time to get home after an hour being at the cemetery. She didn't bother jamming to her music, or humming, at the very least. Silence. That was all there was. Silence, and even in her head. Silence, and the whispers of the thoughts she could not keep away.
Sharp silence.
Getting home, she was greeted eerily by her entire family, all of whom were waiting for her in the living room. The kids had taken up the couch, with their parents at either side of it.
"Hey, kiddo," Lynn Sr greeted. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, dude," Luna lied. "I'm gonna hit the hay-"
"Wait, honey," Rita began. "Before you do, your father and I have a surprise for all of you kids, but we wanted to wait until you got back home so that we can announce it."
"And you really took your time getting back," Lola sassed.
"Lola," Lynn Sr urged for her to be quiet. "Lynn, give me a drum roll!"
Lynn began smacking her hands on her knees quite rapidly. "Let's go!"
Lynn Sr took a deep breath, and was about to announce the news, right before Rita cut him off. "We are going on a trip to California, kids!"
Luna looked stunned, raising an eyebrow. "What? Why?"
"What's the occasion?" Lincoln curiously asked.
"Well, we have been talking it over, and I think that it's in everyone's best interest that we-" Rita looked at Luna. "-Distract ourselves for a bit."
"A bit..." Luna repeated with a glum tone. "Sounds good, dude."
"Cheer up, Lunes! We're gonna have a great time!" Lynn surely seemed to be pumped by then, even though she had no idea what to expect.
"Say, can we stop st Disneyland?" Lola asked. "I would love to meet all those princesses, even though it's just losers in costume."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Rita was bought at the idea. "I was thinking somewhere near the shorelines of California, but that spunds just as good.
"D-Disneyland?" Leni sounded excited as you could possibly imagine. "Like, that's totes a good choice! I wonder if I get to meet Cinderella."
Lincoln raised his shoulders, giving in to the suggestion. "I can see the rides now, yes!"
"Game on, brother!" Lynn howled.
As the many family members cheered, Luna found herself to not give a shit. She couldn't help it, but she would totally agree that it was a good idea for her to get her head out of the pit. "Sounds fun, dudes..."
"Oh, Luna, would you break the news to Lisa when she comes back?" Rita asked her.
"Huh?" Luna had not even noticed that the young genius was missing from the Loud crew. "She-?"
"Went out to do something, which she didn't explain," Lynn Sr filled in. "I only wish she took Lynn with her. What kind of father allows six-year-olds to roam freely?"
Lola snickered away from them.
"Hey, I'll be her guardian next time, pops," Lynn assured him. "I would have followed her, but I had no idea where she'd go."
"It's Lisa," Luan added in.
"Yeah, I know," Lynn sassed back. "Planetariums, museums, or colleges. Which one will it be today?"
The door opened widely enough to reveal Lisa, as if she had tapped into Lucy's world, having returned from her own adventure. "Salutations, my blood relatives," she greeted.
"Oh, and speak of the devil," Lynn laughed.
"Oh, Lisa! Wonderful news, honey! We're going on-" Rita began to reveal.
"A trip to California?" Lisa asked with a faint lisp.
"Uh... How did-?" Lynn Sr scratched his head, figuring he shouldn't have bothered asking. Then, he took a deep inhale, followed by an exhale, finally leaving the kids. "Seriously, how does she do that sh-?" He muttered to himself in whisper.
"Okay, kids, that's all we wanted to announce. Your father is going to... Take his rest now." Rita hurried after her husband back into their bedroom, and it was only after their bedroom door was shut that the children started talking, all overlapping each other about the trip.
All except Luna, who wanted to get out of her dark clothclothes, and nothing more. So up the stairs she went, going unnoticed by the Loud collective.
"Hey, what- What's with the muddy footprints, Lisa?" Lola pointed behind Lisa, directly at the three dirt marks her shoes had made. "You're cleaning that up, or I'm telling dad!"
"Fret not, adolescent. I will clean and sanitize this at once," Lisa told the bratty Lola, hurrying to take her shoes off. She placed them outside, leaving them at the porch. She then looked right out into the street, and took out a pager-shaped contraption from her semester's pocket.
On it, there was only one button she had to press, which read;
Activate SCI-001
And she pressed it.
Luna was laying in her bunk bed yet again, which was becoming the norm these days now. Her phone had died some time ago, so it would not be bothering her until she recharged it. And she hadn't the soul to do that. Neither soul of effort. She yawned, feeling sleepy from today's event, when something odd happened.
On the other side of the room, there was a desk set-up, which included a flatscreen computer monitor. And for some weird reason, the screen just activated by itself, almost like an invisible force was there, turning it on for shits and giggles. "Eh?"
The screen directed to the home page, and stayed that way. Luna had just gotten damn comfortable in her position. Pity for her to have to move up. At first maybe Luan, or someone else, had been tampering with it enough times that it might have gotten a virus. Luna didn't know enough about computers, so she guessed this was probably what was happening. Just some nuisance that Lisa was sure to fix in a heartbeat.
"Blimey."
Just as Luna was going to call for Lisa, the next eerie thing happened. The screen started to act out, going into a full-on glitch mode. The screen broke, with colors flying all around. It was an eyesore for Luna to look at, but thankfully it went away as fast as it came. Only, it went away and shifted into a black screen, not the home page anymore.
Hello?
Luna thought her mind was playing tricks on her, so she rubbed her eyes before taking another look at the black screen again. The word was gone right before her. Snap out of it, Lunes! You're seeing things!
She approached the computer to shut it off again- And the second message dropped before she could touch jack shit.
I'm scared! Is there anyone there? I feel cold...
She studied the eerily vague message, wondering what was happening. Could it have been Lisa behind this? One of her projects perhaps?
It made her freeze like a statue, and then the true heart-stopper occurred. The round camera she had left plugged into the hard drive flashed on, and turned slowly in her direction. "What the-?"
Luna took steps back, getting visibly scared by the passing seconds. And then the true terrifying thing came in the form of the last message she would see before the day ended;
Luna!
The entire computer shut down from there, but it didn't put her at ease. Someone was watching. Someone had accessed her camera and spotted her in front of the computer. Not only that, but they, whoever they were, knew her name. Something was not at all right.
Her breath had become unsteady, but she only realized it right after the inexplicable weirdness had ceased. Anymore messages and she might have had a heart attack, maybe worse. Her heart was not able to withstand much anymore, so she had to avoid stuff, or built it back up. Either way, that alone was a challenge, a true conflict, to take on.
She raced out of the room, not wishing to see anymore creepy things. Maybe it was some hacker who tapped into it, and tried to give her the spooks. Yes, of course! Had to be. And Lisa could be able to track it back. And Luna would take action of her own accord.
"Yo, Lisa, something's up with my-" Before Luna could explain the software trouble, the phones of the other kids began to ring all at once.
"Hey, this better not be a telemarketer!" Lola spat.
"Why are all the phones going off at the same time?" Lincoln wondered before picking up the call. "Uh, hello?"
Lynn and Lana did the same thing.
"Is this a group call? Oh em gosh, it could be Pop-Pop!" Leni exclaimed.
Lynn held the phone to her ear, not greeting the caller. She stared at Lincoln.
"Help me, I'm scared."
Lynn retracted the phone from her face, lost on words. "It's a prank, I'm sure," she answered before hanging up.
Lincoln heard the same message as well. "I'm sorry?" But the caller, a girl by the sound of it, had hung up on him.
Lana went through the same ordeal. "D-did you hear what I heard?"
"What? What did they say?" Lola inquired.
"I heard a girl," Loncoln started.
"Yeah," Lynn seconded. "Just a message that goes-"
Luna's phone rang this time, back in her room. Funny, she could have sworn it had died. Curious about what she had seen, she decided to see what the ruckus was about. And she didn't even think that this was connected to what had just taken place moments ago.
She jogged it back and found her phone right where she left it; on the corner of her bed. She touched it, finding it to be at full battery. "Whoa, weird."
She missed the call, but it would soon be okay, as she received another call. "N-no..."
The caller was not an unkbown, random number at all. Not like it was for the others. This one came from Sam.
Suddenly, the chances of Luna actually being harassed by some asshole likely to be homophobic was not out of the question. Thinking about it, she found that it made sense, apart from explaining how the phone suddenly charged by itself. Maybe Luan did it.
Luna's blood boiled pretty quickly the second right before answering. "Listen, buddy, I'm not gonna stand for your-"
"L-Luna? Is that you?" It sounded like Sam, not at all a stranger who was using her phone.
She paused, letting the smooth melody of Sam's voice echo through her eardrums. Her mouth was left opened, face stunned past the limit she though was it. "Sam?"
"It's cold... It's cold over here... And dark-" The voice was cut off by a storm of static, exploding right in Luna's ear.
"Ahh!" She dropped the phone, taking several steps back while not breaking contact from it. "S-Sam-"
The static kept hissing away, urging Luna to bolt out of the room in fear. She zoomed into the bathroom and locked herself in, simply to wash her eyeballs out to stop seeing such things. That wasn't Sam, couldn't be. Damn whoever was gaslighting her to this level. She had a sudden urge to break her phone and computer just to feel safe and stable. God knows what would happen if this shit kept going- And Luna was not one to engage such games with.
She tapped into quite the anger, and ended up punching the mirror. She shattered it with the one punch, scraping up her fist in the process. She bled, and wrapped her other hand around the fist, clenching it hard to feel as much pain as she could possibly get out. "Fuck!"
Heading out, she screamed into the hall. "LISA, I NEED YOUR HELP!"
A pair of footsteps came stampeding up, followed by the young genius appearing as Luna moved back towards her room. "How may I be of assistance?"
"Yeah, uh, fix my computer, I'm positive someone hacked it."
Lisa took the lead, having her own thoughts to this matter.
The two entered the room, only to find the computer on and depicting the black screen like before. The moment they looked on, new text formed;
It's so cold and dark, send help. I don't know where I am, I'm scared...
"See?! That's not me, I didn't-!" Luna yelled at her sister.
The phone on the floor had rung again, marking the third call from Sam.
"Someone is f-fucking with me-!"
Lisa raised an eyebrow.
The phone answered the call before their eyes, which further intrigued Lisa. "Oh, my."
Silence at first.
"Can you track these guys down? Is it possible to report this?" Luna was desperate.
"I may be able to help," Lisa simply answered.
"Okay, well-"
"Luna, help me... I'm alone, I'm scared, and I can't see anything. I- I can't feel anything at all... Save me..."
Luna teared up, placing her hands to her face, breaking into heavy crying. "Oh, God, I- I'm sorry, Sam... I'm so sorry I killed you..."
While Luna was letting her chained pain out, Lisa took out the pager-shaped device and looked at it;
Chip 4% Synchronized
Soon...
The phone hung up the call without warning, ending it before "Sam" could say more. And Luna kept crying.
AN: This idea comes inspired from an 80s horror movie named Deadly Friend. Twice did I bring this up around Flaggie-poo, hoping that he could make a TLH Edition of it. His words were, and I quote, "I don't know if I'll ever do the Deadly Friend thing, D. You can do it, and probably make the deaths better than I could." Therefore it falls on me to create it. Only, it's not an "I'll replace the characters with the Louds" case, I mean, that's predictable and un-original, unless you change it. Oh yeah. Unf.
Okay, now before I fuck off into hiding, I apologize for the slow inconvenience for my other ongoing fics that have yet to be updated. I'll try to update the others as fast as I can. Meanwhile, I see one fic that I will likely cancel. More updates to follow. Take care, goodnight.